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Location
City: Saipan
Village: Marpi
Street:
Check Map
City: Saipan
Village: Marpi
Street:
Check Map
| Saipan Banzai Cliff |
| Information |
Updated: 05/16/08
“Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness”. The Words of
Rev. Seizan Kawakami (Founder of Shikogakuen Mission)
We believe that all human beings are God’s children. Everyone is
equally a child of God despite his race, color, creed, and any other
differences. All people who were involved during the war – Japanese,
Americans, and even the native people who were the innocent victims –
are also God’s children. When we wonder how such a tragedy can
occur, we cannot help feeling keenly that somehow they were not aware
of the truth that we are all human beings born from one God who
created all things in this world, and there was no religion that taught the
full meaning of that truth.
Now in order that we do not repeat that tragedy, we should believe that
both winners and losers are God’s children and that each of us
becomes a candle to light the darkness and a torch leading the way
through the darkness. We are burning this candle with the oath for
peace and pray:
“I am one of God’s children. Children of the Perfect and Eternal God…..
My soul is a part of the Lord…..”
October 29, 1988
God’s child – Teruhiko Kawakami (President of Shikogakuen Mission)
Hdqtrs. Address: 27 Higashiabo, Shigo-cho, Himeji-shi Hyogo-ken,
Japan
And all God’s children
Rev. Seizan Kawakami (Founder of Shikogakuen Mission)
We believe that all human beings are God’s children. Everyone is
equally a child of God despite his race, color, creed, and any other
differences. All people who were involved during the war – Japanese,
Americans, and even the native people who were the innocent victims –
are also God’s children. When we wonder how such a tragedy can
occur, we cannot help feeling keenly that somehow they were not aware
of the truth that we are all human beings born from one God who
created all things in this world, and there was no religion that taught the
full meaning of that truth.
Now in order that we do not repeat that tragedy, we should believe that
both winners and losers are God’s children and that each of us
becomes a candle to light the darkness and a torch leading the way
through the darkness. We are burning this candle with the oath for
peace and pray:
“I am one of God’s children. Children of the Perfect and Eternal God…..
My soul is a part of the Lord…..”
October 29, 1988
God’s child – Teruhiko Kawakami (President of Shikogakuen Mission)
Hdqtrs. Address: 27 Higashiabo, Shigo-cho, Himeji-shi Hyogo-ken,
Japan
And all God’s children
We hereby erect this monument as an expression of our deepest
gratitude and reverence for the spirits of those loyal and brave soldiers
who gave their lives in a valiant effort defending their homeland, and to
pray for eternal world peace.
Poem composed by His Majesty the Emperor
When I think of war, my mind is filled with the images of the soldiers
who so unfailingly devoted their lives to the nation.
Month; February The year 1992
Erected by Kosuke Tomizawa, Sogusha
gratitude and reverence for the spirits of those loyal and brave soldiers
who gave their lives in a valiant effort defending their homeland, and to
pray for eternal world peace.
Poem composed by His Majesty the Emperor
When I think of war, my mind is filled with the images of the soldiers
who so unfailingly devoted their lives to the nation.
Month; February The year 1992
Erected by Kosuke Tomizawa, Sogusha
Death and Duty
…Whether we attack or whether we stay where we are, there is only
death…As it says in Senjinkun [Battle Ethics], I will never suffer the
disgrace of being taken alive.
Lieutenant General Yoshitsugu Saito
… [On] 8 July…I took two prisoners on top of the Banzai Cliffs. I talked
with them at length trying to convince them that to continue fighting
would amount to sure death….The big job was…convincing them that
we would not torture and kill them – that they would be well treated and
would be returned to Japan after the war.
Private First Class Guy Gabaldon
…they [the civilians] had been told that no Japanese has been captured.
And if you were ever to give up, you would not be Japanese anymore…if
you see a hundred people jumping off cliffs and a dozen families with
little kids jumping off cliffs, you really think the world’s coming to an
end…And then some…were patriotic and thought that this is a duty…
there was death all around the place.
Major Robert Sheeks
…the Japanese told us that the Americans would do terrible things to
us if we were captured…we thought of killing ourselves…[the
Americans] gave us water and we saw that one of them had a rosary
around his neck so we figured they were good guys. They were not out
to kill us.
David Mangerero Sablan
The many memorials you see here today honor the Japanese,
Okinawans, and Koreans who died on Saipan in 1944.
…Whether we attack or whether we stay where we are, there is only
death…As it says in Senjinkun [Battle Ethics], I will never suffer the
disgrace of being taken alive.
Lieutenant General Yoshitsugu Saito
… [On] 8 July…I took two prisoners on top of the Banzai Cliffs. I talked
with them at length trying to convince them that to continue fighting
would amount to sure death….The big job was…convincing them that
we would not torture and kill them – that they would be well treated and
would be returned to Japan after the war.
Private First Class Guy Gabaldon
…they [the civilians] had been told that no Japanese has been captured.
And if you were ever to give up, you would not be Japanese anymore…if
you see a hundred people jumping off cliffs and a dozen families with
little kids jumping off cliffs, you really think the world’s coming to an
end…And then some…were patriotic and thought that this is a duty…
there was death all around the place.
Major Robert Sheeks
…the Japanese told us that the Americans would do terrible things to
us if we were captured…we thought of killing ourselves…[the
Americans] gave us water and we saw that one of them had a rosary
around his neck so we figured they were good guys. They were not out
to kill us.
David Mangerero Sablan
The many memorials you see here today honor the Japanese,
Okinawans, and Koreans who died on Saipan in 1944.
| The Words engraved on the monument: |
| Foreword |
| Death and Duty |
